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Post by Kimby on Jun 5, 2012 4:18:00 GMT
I wonder if the local conservation department is looking into what caused the (snowy owl)invasion. Owls are irruptive, meaning that some years they greatly expand their winter wanderings. Many other species are also irruptive. I think it has to do with weather and food supply. From wikipedia: Sometimes circumstances such as a good breeding season followed by a food source failure the following year lead to irruptions in which large numbers of a species move far beyond the normal range. Bohemian Waxwing and Common Crossbills show this unpredictable variation in annual numbers.
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Post by Kimby on Jun 5, 2012 4:47:13 GMT
There is a kildeer sitting on her nest in front and to the left of the clump of grass in this photo. You can just see her stripes. Not my photo, but this is what they look like. Their coloration is called "disruptive because the stripes break up the shape of the bird visually. As I got close to the nest, she suddenly started crying and gimping along dragging her wing, trying to lure me away from the nest. I wasn't fooled by her act, and got close enough to see what she was protecting.
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Post by bixaorellana on Jun 5, 2012 15:45:56 GMT
Cool! Boy, that nest is really minimal. Nifty to see how the eggs have camouflage colors. Kimby, are there two kildeer in the first pic?
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Post by Kimby on Jun 5, 2012 19:25:00 GMT
are there two kildeer in the first pic? Quite possible bixa. They are so well camouflaged that I wasn't certain I'd even gotten the ONE in the photo!.
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Post by Kimby on Jul 17, 2012 19:40:38 GMT
Followup report. Next time we got to the lake, the kildeer were gone. (Being "precocial", they leave the nest and fend for themselves soon after hatching instead of being fed in the nest for a couple weeks like the "altricial" species.)
But one of the eggs remained, with a tiny hole in one side. Evidence perhaps of a baby bird that tried to "pip" its way out of its shell but was unable to finish the job. I collected the egg and its dried contents and display it in a dish of shells and bones.
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Post by Kimby on Jul 17, 2012 19:49:50 GMT
They're back!!!! I've lost count, but this might be the 8th year that the Cordilleran flycatchers have nested on our power box. (I wonder what generation is nesting there this year - it can't be the original pair!) I posted a full report with lots of photos of the whole nesting sequence a couple summers ago, in this thread, if you're interested. It also got picked up by our local Natural History Center for their blog: montananaturalist.blogspot.com/2010/07/cordilleran-flycatcher-nest.html (I haven't wanted to pester them with my camera this year, but the sequence seems to be identical from year to year, almost down to the day the first piece of moss is deposited on top of the meter box!)
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Post by Deleted on Aug 7, 2012 15:08:40 GMT
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Post by htmb on Aug 7, 2012 15:41:14 GMT
I've never seen a bird like that and would love to know the name and where it was photographed.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 7, 2012 16:26:06 GMT
I know nothing about birds. I took the photo in Boulogne Billancourt this afternoon.
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Post by bixaorellana on Aug 7, 2012 16:48:19 GMT
What a beauty! A type of jay?
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Post by bixaorellana on Aug 7, 2012 16:52:15 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Aug 7, 2012 17:26:51 GMT
A cousin perhaps, since that particular one is not found in Europe.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 7, 2012 18:05:32 GMT
I looked through photos and it is definitely a kind of magpie.
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Post by htmb on Aug 7, 2012 18:17:08 GMT
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Post by tod2 on Aug 8, 2012 12:37:47 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Aug 8, 2012 12:58:56 GMT
Here's another shot of it.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 8, 2012 14:01:14 GMT
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Post by tod2 on Aug 8, 2012 15:07:00 GMT
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Post by bixaorellana on Aug 9, 2012 3:50:48 GMT
That heron picture is out of this world!
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Post by Deleted on Aug 9, 2012 16:34:56 GMT
I bet you didn't know that they live in the parks of Paris.
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Post by bixaorellana on Aug 9, 2012 16:50:10 GMT
Very true! In fact, I simply assumed that one was in the Albert Kahn gardens, thus a deliberate import.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 10, 2012 5:02:55 GMT
Actually, that was in the Parc de Bercy in the 12th arrondissement.
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Post by bixaorellana on Aug 11, 2012 21:42:53 GMT
Y'all had better control those pesky critters before they take over!
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Post by Kimby on Nov 15, 2012 18:53:52 GMT
A pair of Osprey on Sanibel Island.
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Post by Kimby on Nov 15, 2012 18:54:56 GMT
This fellow was fishing from the bridge railing across the lagoon from us.
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Post by Kimby on Nov 15, 2012 18:55:51 GMT
A young heron, not as photogenic as K2's beauty!
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Post by Kimby on Jan 3, 2013 16:08:10 GMT
Not technically "garden birds" but these fellows hang out in our backyard at the lake.
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Post by lugg on Jan 18, 2013 18:37:16 GMT
What a variety of types , great photos guys. Kimby -Are those in your last pic bald headed eagles ? This is a photo of a Blue Tit enjoying some nuts that I have placed under the garden shed eaves to protect them from the snow.
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Post by Kimby on Jan 20, 2013 16:40:46 GMT
lugg, they are all three bald eagles, though only one appears to be a full adult. We have seen as many as a dozen at a time in the fall, when there are 100's of coot (duck-like birds) on the lake.
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Post by Kimby on Jan 20, 2013 16:41:16 GMT
Love your tit, lugg. Like our chickadees but much prettier.
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